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Topic: Cajun Gig |
John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 2 Oct 2010 6:38 am |
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I just played my first Cajun steel gig last night. I sort of had to fumble my way through some of it, but it was a really fun time.
A good friend and sometimes playing partner is a member of the Gulf Coast Playboys here in town and I'd offered months ago to get together with them if they were ever interested. I hadn't thought much more about it, but out of the blue last week, they wanted me to join them on this gig.
I've listened to a lot of Cajun music and know a lot about the repertoire, but I'd never really explored the steel guitar style. I had to figure out a tuning and do a crash course to come up with a few acceptable all-around licks and learn at least some of the melodies. I've been playing nothing but swing with a little honky-tonk country lately and I really had to switch gears to get the feel and get used to working with the open strings a lot.
I settled on a G6 (8-string) with a 1 on top and mostly stuck to the top 4 strings. As I mentioned, I felt a little sloppy with some of it, but it came off sounding good and the guys in the band were really happy with it. The only thing that allowed me to pull it off is that I didn't have to struggle with the feel of it.
All in all, quite a success...now I'll have to spend some time really working on it for the next time they call.
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John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com |
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Jim Newberry
From:
Seattle, Upper Left America
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Posted 2 Oct 2010 4:13 pm
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Good for you John. I've been working on it for a while myself and have my first "entire steel" gig tomorrow night. I know Cajun music well (been playing it regularly for about 15 years) but on fiddle and accordion, so the steel thing's still pretty new. With my main band, I've been playing a couple of tunes on steel here and there, but tomorrow will be my first whole night on steel. I'm playing an early 50's Fender dual Pro D6 like my hero Archange "Coon" Touchet.
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"The Masher of Touch and Tone"
-1950 Fender Dual Pro 8
-1950's Fender Dual Pro 6
-Clinesmith D8
-Clinesmith 8-string Frypan
-Clinesmith Joaquin
-~1940 National New Yorker
-~1936 Rickenbacher B6
-Homebuilt Amps |
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John Allison
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 4 Oct 2010 6:09 am
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Jim,
I prepped for the gig by watching and listening to some clips of Aldus Roger with Irby Begnaud on steel. I'll be checking out some of T-Coon's playing as well as some Austin Pitre's various recordings and line-ups.
By the way, what's the most typical tuning to keep on your second neck? I've been wanting to build myself a double and if I gig with this band very much, I'll definitely want to get that going.
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John Allison
Allison Stringed Instruments
Austin, Texas
www.allisonguitars.com |
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Tom Wolverton
From:
Carpinteria, CA
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Posted 4 Oct 2010 7:33 am with two necks
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John, I've played a bit with a local cajun band. For me, it was G6th on one neck and E13th on the other. But it I was going to do it a lot, I'd probably change that E13th to a C tuning or maybe even F. I like to use open strings a lot in the cajun tunes and the band I was playing with would play in C and F a lot.
For a nice record, check out Joel Martin and the Family Band "L'Ange de la Chapelle". Nice cajun steel work on it by Jr. Martin (the acordion maker).
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To write with a broken pencil is pointless. |
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Jim Newberry
From:
Seattle, Upper Left America
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Posted 4 Oct 2010 1:20 pm
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The band I played with last night only uses a "C" accordion, so all the tunes were in C or G (plus a couple in F), so I stayed on the G neck all night (hi-to-lo GDBGDG). The bands I've played with don't stray much from straight-ahead Cajun two-steps and waltzes, so a swingier tuning doesn't fit in. I do have the other neck at C6 because I need to learn it some time... The band I've played fiddle in for years regularly switches between the C accordion and D accordion, so if I was to regularly play steel with them (us?) then I might tune the other neck to open A just a step higher so I can get all the open strings.
Terry Huval told me that he uses a G6 tuning that Phillip Alleman used when he played with Aldus Roger. Those recordings are great not only for the quintessential Cajun non-pedal style, but for the fact that the steel is panned way to one side and the accordion panned way to the other, so you can really hear the "rhythming" (backup patterns) clearly.
I had fun sitting behind the desk all night last night. The waltzes came out pretty well, but I did a lot of stumbling on the two-steps. By the end of the night, I was getting tuned in a little better.
_________________
"The Masher of Touch and Tone"
-1950 Fender Dual Pro 8
-1950's Fender Dual Pro 6
-Clinesmith D8
-Clinesmith 8-string Frypan
-Clinesmith Joaquin
-~1940 National New Yorker
-~1936 Rickenbacher B6
-Homebuilt Amps |
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